The following is a post I wrote for my UserMetrix
project (a tool for software developers):

Many websites that sell something (staplers, Japanese toilets or whatever) use
web analytics to track conversions. They do this by recording the total number
of visitors to a website, then measuring the percentage of those visitors who
make a purchase from the site. For example, Mr Iyashi’s website selling
Japanese toilets generates a huge amount of traffic, but it’s mostly visitors
who are looking around out of curiosity. Out of these visitors, only a few go
on to actually purchase a Japanese toilet from Mr Iyashi’s site. His
conversion rate is very low.

Most analytics packages allow you to define goals, which are used to mark
specific pages as places you want people to ultimately end up. For websites
that sell something, typical goals are pages that appear after a successful
purchase; ones that read something like “Thanks for purchasing!”. These goals
are then used to create funnels, which describe the successful pathway
customers take to make a purchase. For example:

100 visitors arrive on the home page.

50 of those visitors click on the product page

5 of those visitors click on the super-happy-luck-flush toilet with wireless control.

1 of those visitors purchases the toilet.
This data can be then used to improve the website to convert more of the
original 100 visitors into paying customers.

Goals for open-source communities:

So what do online Japanese toilet stores have to do with websites for open-
source communities? Open-source websites typically don’t involve financial
transactions (although more and more seek donations), however open-source
websites are still selling an idea or concept, for example:

“Mozilla – We’re building a better Internet and we’re dedicated to keeping it free, open and accessible to all” 1

Mozilla are selling an idea or movement centred on the idea of an open
Internet. They want you to join their community, because you share the same
philosophy. So what are the different ways you can join an open-source
community?

Download the software.

Use the software.

Log a bug.

Write some documentation.

Write some code and submit a patch.

Make a donation.

Many of these different actions are remarkably similar to what our Japanese
toilet vendor would identify as goals for his online store. So for open-source
communities, it is really easy to set the “edit” page of a wiki to be a web
analytics goal, and capture the number of website visitors that convert to
writing documentation. Another obvious web analytics goal would be the bug
logging page - comparing how many people are (unsuccessfully) attempting to
log bugs versus how many are actually successfully doing so.

Open-source communities can also use application analytics to start measuring
more complex things, such as how many people use your software, and how they
use it. This process will teach you about the barriers people face when
joining your open-source community, and give you lots of information on how to
build a better open-source project.

Hi! Subconsciously you already know this, but let's make it obvious. Hopefully this article was helpful. You might also find yourself following a link to Amazon, Lego or eBay to learn more about parts or equipment. If you end up placing an order, I make a couple of dollarydoos. We aren't talking a rapper lifestyle of supercars and yachts, but it does help pay for the stuff you see here. So a massive shoutout to everyone that enables this place. Thanks!